But There's No Such Thing as Climate Change....

Image from below linked story.

From How Much More Rain Would California Need To End The Drought?:

Short answer: a whole lot.  

...the winter we need to escape drought conditions ... would have 150 percent of the average rainfall, or a storm like we've been getting every three to five days through spring. That, unfortunately, isn't very likely.

Additional coverage of the California drought on SFist.

Much of the US is in an historic drought.  Drought leads to changes in food prices (almost always upward), increases costs of disposing of waste (due to cost of water and need for clean water when supplies diminish), and can literally make portions of the country uninhabitable without substantial efforts.  Any number of Southern California and Sun Belt cities are in locations that are incapable of supporting their population without massive influxes of foreign water, including the possibility of moving water from Canada.

The idea of "water wars" is nothing new, but with increasing drought throughout the US ("from Delaware to California" is a money quote from one story) the problem of who has water and who's willing to give up water is going to get nothing but more serious and contentious.

Who owns your water supply?

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ars gratia artis

Bristlecone Pine, White Mountains, California

photograph by Evan Robinson

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ars gratia artis

Old Engine, Bodie, California

photograph by Evan Robinson

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ars gratia artis

Periwinkle, Half Moon Bay, California

photograph by Evan Robinson

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Eastern Sierra Fall Color Photo Workshop at Mountain Light Gallery

I took my very first photography workshop last week.  Sara and I went to her home town, Bishop, California, between Death Valley and Mono Lake on the east side of the Sierra.  It used to be Galen Rowell's stomping grounds, and his business the Mountain Light Gallery is still there.  Last time we visited Bishop I noticed that the gallery had workshops and signed up for this one.  It was led by Gordon Wiltsie, a noted adventure photographer who did a great deal of fantastic work for National Geographic and many other publications.  He was ably assisted by Jerry Dodrill, also an adventure photographer and climber, who used to work for Galen Rowell at the Mountain Light Gallery.

The workshop ran from 2 October to 5 October with an evening kickoff and an afternoon finish.  Each day in between we were up and out before sunrise to local locations to catch the morning light and Friday and Saturday nights we were out late for sunset shooting as well.  We shot at North Lake, on the road to South Lake, out by the Owens River on 5 Bridges Road, near Big Alkali Lake off Benton Crossing Road near Lake Crowley, Convict Lake, Bishop Creek, and up in the White Mountains near the Schulman Grove.

In between Gordon and Jerry provided instruction via slideshow, critique, and Lightroom training.  On location they were very hands on, suggesting locations, shots, techniques, and always answering questions.

It was great.  Here are six images I took:

North Lake Dawn, Evan Robinson,
near Bishop, California

Sunset Tree, Evan Robinson,
near Bishop, California

Mountain Rays, Evan Robinson,
Owens River Valley, near Bishop, California

Dawn Mirror, Evan Robinson,
near Mammoth Lakes, California

Mounts Morrison and Laurel, Evan Robinson,
near Mammoth Lakes, California

Ancient Sunset, Evan Robinson,
near Schulman Grove, White Mountains, California

It occurs to me that each of these pictures is looking west.  That's where the light is, I guess :-).

I took about 700 images.  I have 30-ish that I think are pretty good, many of which I think are among the best images I've ever taken.  I look forward with trepidation to going over my ~30K previous images with my new eyes.  To be fair, I was going to have to do that anyway since my workflow is moving from Aperture to Lightroom because of Aperture's demise.

Right now I feel like I learned a lot.  But the real test will be what images I'm creating next month.  Regardless, this workshop was a test of whether I would enjoy workshops and learn from them.  I did and I did, so I'll be doing more of them.

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BREAKING: California Supremes uphold h(8), existing marriages

According to the SF Chronicle, the California Supreme Court ruled 6-1 to uphold Proposition 8, but also decided that the 18000 or so gay marriages performed are valid and will remain so.

This is exactly the slicing and dicing predicted by many commentators. The RWAs can remain happy in their ability to remove fundamental rights from an oppressed minority, the progressives can remain happy that nobody had their marriages annulled. A new constitutional amendment will undoubtedly be on the Cali ballot in 2010 and will remain so until it passes and sticks. Time and demographics are on the side of liberalism in this case.

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The White Night Riot, 21 May 1979, and Lesbians Against Police Violence Pt. 2

(Flyer created and distributed by Lesbians Against Police Violence and The Stonewall Coalition [mixed-gender lesbian/gay organization allied with LAPV] in Summer 1979 in the aftermath of the White Night Riots; Maggie is pretty sure the graphic was drawn by Emily Siegel.)

OpEdNews Just Wrote About The White Night Riot & Harvey Milk

In May, Maggie Jochild wrote an astonishing piece which I reviewed, The White Night Riot, 21 May 1979, and Lesbians Against Police Violence.

That piece has now been picked up by OpEdNews as Milk and the White Night Riots.

Two weeks from now a long-awaited movie on gay-rights icon Harvey Milk is being released. Maggie will review the movie around when it's released.

The questions include, is the movie a puff piece, does it ignore lesbians in favor of gays, does it make cops look like movie villains instead of real people, and how does it treat politicians (for example, Diane Feinstein?)

In short, how do you tell a movie about a historical time and figure such as Milk and the Riot, when many of the principles are still alive and have strong opinions and memories about the events?

Till then make sure you've read Maggie's piece. And check out the OpEdNews article as well. They did a fantastic job weaving in Harvey Milk and other viewpoints.

The White Night Riot is one of the key turning points in the history of LGBT rights. Maggie was one of the women leading the march.

Two weeks till the movie.

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No on Prop. 8

Mormon Church Funds Prop. 8

The fight FOR Prop. 8 is being funded by the Mormon Church (disclosure: I was raised Mormon; I resigned once I became an adult.) Without the Mormon's having put over $20 million dollars in to California to stamp out Gay Marriage, Prop. 8 wouldn't be even close to passing. Candlelight vigils are being held in Salt Lake City by Mormons against their own church's bigotry.

I'm pretty sure we will win against homophobia, bigotry, and religious intolerance of differing marriage practices -- all of which the Mormon's should remember from their own history -- however it has not been an easy fight. Other than Darcy Burner, this is the other campaign to which I have been contributing.

The below ad is going up right now and will run through tomorrow afternoon/evening. It is WONDERFUL. Feel free to give some donations for the final drive...


Home Invasion

[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

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California: No on 8

Miscegenation laws were declared unconstitutional in California by the State Supreme Court in 1948. Let's not waste our time passing a new one. No on 8!

[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

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The White Night Riot, 21 May 1979, and Lesbians Against Police Violence

(Flyer created and distributed by Lesbians Against Police Violence and The Stonewall Coalition [mixed-gender lesbian/gay organization allied with LAPV] in Summer 1979 in the aftermath of the White Night Riots; Maggie is pretty sure the graphic was drawn by Emily Siegel.)

Today is the 29th Anniversary of the
Most Important Lesbian and Gay Riot Ever

My close friend Maggie Jochild (and good friend of GNB) was there.

The police estimate was there were at least 3,000 lesbian and gays in the rioting. As we all know, police estimates traditionally undercount actual numbers.

The numbers were HUGE.

The rally was lesbian led, Maggie being one of the leaders. The eruption into violence was led by white gay men, Harvey Milk having been their pioneer.

Yet most of those injured were women and or people of color.

The riot began after a jury returned only a verdict of manslaughter in the trial of Dan White (thus the White Night Riot) whose defense team originated the infamous “Twinkie” defense. (Details at the link.)

White, a former police officer and San Francisco City Supervisor, had been charged with first-degree murder for the assassinations of San Francisco City Mayor George Moscone and San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk.

A note about the so-called “Twinkie” defense. While it was played in court, literally, as that White had been eating so much junk-food that it diminished his capacity, thus being one of the reasons he “lost it”, what really was going on in court was emphasis on the double-meaning of the word “Twinkie.” White's defense team rammed home for the jury how Milk smirked at him, while refusing to hire him back. The faggot, “smirked.”

Obviously, no former cop such as White, could take a faggot besmirching his honor and masculinity by not just refusing to hire him back, but “smirking” at him. Had White only killed Mayor Moscone (a true progressive) White would no doubt have been convicted of first-degree murder. But kill that faggot Milk, the “Twinkie” for smirking... Shit-fire boy, that faggot had it coming.

Thus... the White Night Riot.

Meta Watershed

Today is the 29th anniversary of the largest lesbian and gay riot in the history of the world. Not only was I there, I was one of the women in Lesbians Against Police Violence responsible for the rally from which it arose.

I've written about LAPV in other posts, such as Tania: 33 Years Later. In one, Dianne Feinstein, Opportunist, I give a good brief history of the events leading up to Dan White's cold-blooded assassinations of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk. I refer you to that for background.

Another excellent source is an article by LAPV members and women I worked closely with, Pam David and Lois Helmbold, in Radical America, Vol 13, no.4 July- August 1979, found online at Sexuality and the State: The Defeat of the Briggs Initiative and Beyond (scroll down about 2/5 of the document to find the pertinent Radical America extract).

LAPV stood in radical opposition to police harassment of minority communities. We saw Dan White's assassination as a rage reprisal by a former cop against progressive forces (not just gay) and linked it to the larger picture of male and white domination. I think it's critical to remember that the riot which came from our agitation was the result of revolutionary lesbians speaking out against the ultimate forces of power in our society, not a bunch of "gays" upset about a verdict.

Several years ago I wrote my own memoir of the event. I'm going to include that below. Not long afterward, I was interviewed by Christina B. Hanhardt, who was writing a doctoral thesis in American Studies at New York University on "Butterflies, Whistles, and Fists: Safe Streets Patrols and the ‘New’ Gay Ghetto". Her interview with me and other LAPVers, as well as review of primary source documents (mostly from the papers I donated to the Meg Barnett Papers in the Queer Nation Collection at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender Historical Society in San Francisco) formed Chapter Two of her thesis, "Safe Space: Sexual Minorities, Uneven Urban Development, and the Politics of Violence". At a later date, I will include this chapter in a post covering LAPV in more historical depth.


(March to City Hall just beginning, near 18th and Castro; perhaps an hour before all-out White Night Riot in San Francisco, 21 May 1979. Mount Sutro tower visible in background; buses are already being stopped.)

THE WHITE NIGHT RIOT

© 2008 by Maggie Jochild

The day after the riot, my feelings about it began to change. I was driving a morning route then, delivering something called Veggie Rolls to natural foods store in San Francisco. There were dozens of such stores in 1979. I had arranged my route to go through the Mission, Noe Valley, Bernal and Potrero Hill neighborhoods first, hit SoMa and downtown during the mid morning lull, then head out to the Haight and the Avenues, ending up at Ocean Beach in the afternoon, where I fed the day-old rolls to a keening flock of gulls. On the morning of May 22, however, I began my day by driving past City Hall on the way to Polk Gulch.

I approached it from an indirect route so I could look across the square first and see if cops were there. There were scorched places near curbs here and there, but the burned-out police cars had already been towed away. There was a knot of 20-30 people standing on the sidewalk across from City Hall, standing with their arms at their sides, staring, not talking to each other. Every window on the front facade of the block-long building was covered with plywood, raw and bright in the morning light. There were no parking meters left on that block. I stopped and watched the people for a minute. They seemed to be in shock. I felt a thrill go through me.

While I chatted daily with the managers of the stores where I delivered, and with a few of them I actually conversed (mostly the dykes in the Coop system), the majority of the stores were owned by either white boy hippies or what would soon be called yuppies, and my interest in what they had to say was limited. I knew I was identified as a lesbian by them because one of them had refused to let me help distribute his products, saying I was too “rough looking” for his clientele. I surely hated that man from then on.

On this day, however, there was something new. It mostly took the form of a second look, after the initial glance of recognition. It was as if a new dimension had suddenly been added to my identity as queer, as if they had overnight found out it also meant I could fly, or was immortal. They looked at me in such a speculative way, I wanted to say to every one of them, “Yeah, I was there. Next time we might come for YOU.” I could smell the fear on them, and I liked it. It was as close to respect as I had ever gotten from the straight world.

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As you'll read, Maggie was one of the primary people behind the rally from which the White Night Riot happened.

This essay is amazing, must-read material.

When it came to the second wave of feminism which came of age with the dykes of the late 60s through early 80s, there was the East Coast group with folks such as Liza Cowan and Alix Dobkin, and the West Coast crowd. Maggie was one of the women at the heart of the West Coast crowd.

Want to know what really happened to feminism from the inside?

Read Maggie's essays at Meta Watershed.

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Breaking: California Upholds Gay Marriage

The Supreme Court of California Approves Gay Marriage (4-3)

The 172 page opinion is here. The first 11 pages contain the flavor of the ruling.

1. This ruling is from the Supreme Court of California. It can not be over-ruled by any other Court. It is law, as of now, in California.

2. GLBT folk in California may go get married. Right now.

Well, probably in a day or so. The bureaucracy must be properly (and officially) notified of this ruling. But then. And it will be a legal marriage.

3. There will be an initiative in California this fall to amend the Constitution to prohibit Gay Marriage. The initiative has enough votes to get on the ballot. This is going to drive turn-out. Gov. Arnold has already said he opposes the initiative.

4. The Court ruled on equal-protection grounds. That classifying or discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation is a protected class (such as race or gender) and therefore must be subject to strict scrutiny. That is, the State must a) demonstrate a compelling Constitutional requirement to do what it is doing, and b) that the way in which it acting is necessary. The State of California's law as written, was neither. Therefore, FAIL.

Welcome to the family of marriage, my sisters and brothers.

Today is a joyous day.

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George W. Bush Sewage Plant

You don't even want to know what this is, er, was.
But people in SF want to name the treatment plant after GWB.

We've Been Cleaning Up Bush's Mess for a Long Time.
People in San Francisco Want to Make it Official.

You've heard of Reagan Airport (used to be called National Airport.)

San Francisco wants to honor our 43rd President.

SFist

Looking to honor the forty-third President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, the recently formed Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is looking to change the name of the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Facility. It seems the group would like to rename the SF Zoo adjacent facility to the "George W Bush Sewage Plant."

Genius.

The local grassroots movement, helmed by "Wayne Pickering," is proposing an ordinance initiative for the November 2008 San Francisco ballot in order to get the poop/pee/vomit plant's title changed. Why? To honor our current leader of the free world with an "appropriate and enduring legacy, for no other president in modern American history has accomplished so much in such a short time.

Check out the diagram.



As you can tell from the diagram (or this more detailed explanation), this plant calls for technical competence.

Ironic, actually, considering it's to honor George W. Bush.

But well, competence is what's needed to clean up messes, piles of steaming crap spread all over the world, not to mention the image of the United States.

Wouldn't it be great if sewage plants, land fills, and failed strip mines everywhere were named in GWB's honor? Or perhaps the GWB oil spill, for a particularly ugly ecological disaster?

Thank you San Francisco. Good work. Good luck in November.

h/t Huffington Post.

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